My life in Ink

Move the cat you say? Not unless I want to wake up an hour later with the cat sleeping on my face. The cat comes back you know. And I don't have the heart...look how cute his little body is.

No light makes jennifer go something something....

The symptoms of SAD include:

• Low mood, reduced interest in normally pleasurable activities, decreased concentration;
• Oversleeping (often an increase of 4 hours or more each day);
• Low energy and fatigue;
• Intense craving for carbohydrates;
• Weight gain and carbohydrate/sweets craving;
  
• Withdrawal from social contacts;
• Depression.

HELLO, I have checked every box here! I thought I could make it this year, but again I just feel crusty and crabby.

Research studies report women are eight times more likely to suffer from SAD

That's great, why does Nathan never gets sick?

I am sure everyone up here is suffering in some way, but for those sunny happy people down south let me tell you how I am feeling....I am not insane. I feel normal, although I am tired a lot of the time. Coffee helps, but never completely. I just feel bland, I don't really feel like doing anything. I can still laugh, smile and feel happy. But when I feel down.... I feel WAY down. I can feel so blue that my conscious mind asks "whoa, dude what are you freaking out about" or "why exactly do you feel like crying lady, it's really not that bad?" And then I say back (just because I talk to myself, doesn't mean I am crazy crazy) " Yeah why do I feel so crappy, there really is no logical reason, but I still feel over the moon blue." Let me tell you the husband suffers largely. Poor Nay Nay.

Ok so this year I have learned something.... I am going to be south during one of these months... November, December or January, even if I have to leave behind Nathan to fend for himself. And all for some radiation from a stupid star.

HEY YOU!

Yes YOU! All you Northern Bloggers, here is your opportunity to get you sun deprived creative juices flowing... Send me your best poem, word picture, song about life in the north. There are no rules, I hate rules. All poems will be judged by me, myself and some of my furry mammals. prizes...yes prizes to be won.
Norman wishes you good luck.

Breaking News: Cat Nip Linked to Flying Raindeer

And so this is Christmas...

...alone with my mammals

Someone saw bears on T.V.... Only Animal planet catches his attention.

Well it was Christmas Eve, and now early Christmas Morning and I am sitting here all by my lonesome. Waiting for an unknown time when Nathan will return home, to only maybe leave again. It's that festive time of the season. I guess I am not completely alone, I have the party of mammals that run my house to keep me sane. This is one strong reason why pets are fantastic and crucial for living in the North. So when you are talking to yourself...you aren't really talking to yourself....therefore not crazy....I am not crazy.
Wishing you all a very warm and Merry Christmas!

Like a lobster, huge and red

And the best, I must confess, I have saved for the last
For the ruler of this Christmas land
Is a fearsome King with a deep mighty voice
Least that's what I've come to understand

And I've also heard it told
That's he's something to behold
Like a lobster, huge and red
And sets out to slay with his rain gear on
Carting bulging sacks with his big great arms
That is, so I've heard it said

And on a dark cold night
Under full moonlight
He flies into a fog
Like a vulture in the sky
And they call him Sandy Claws

A Little Brighter Every Day

Since the solstice we will be getting a little more sun each day. Now that is something to cure the winter blues.

The 401 Nunavut Style

And God Bless the New Northern Store!

And your new cappuccino machine. I think I am in heaven, that would explain all the whiteness.

And there was Norman...

Someone decided to hang out on the back of the Man in the Mansion office chair we have. Apparently the bag is thick enough for him to lounge on. I felt like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, with my little kittie minion.

Happiness is a Dog

I feel like plain oatmeal

I don't seem to have any feeling. I don't get excited about shopping, I don't get inspired by music, I don't feel like blogging, or taking photos. I just feel bland and drab. However I do feel like eating Oreos and seem to be doing a lot of that. I am not going to play dumb about my oatmeal stature, it's the lack of sun, and simply that's all there is to it. It's funny how a little thing like that can effect you so much. I sleep too much, I eat too little, but then when I do eat, it seems to be things like carbs only. What is a vegetable? And I am sure that is making me just feel worse. This place is just beautiful around this time of year, it's extended sunsets (the sun doesn't come up it just sits behind the mountain making the sky pink), it's fluffy snow covered hills, but I just don't seem to care. I can't wait for December to end so I can feel like I got a little brown sugar in my oatmeal. I can't wait for the sun to burn back colour into my translucent skin and give my facial moisturizer a reason to have an SPF 30! (What does sun block do to your skin if there is no sun shinning on it?)
Well that's it folks, there are your choices, give yourself skin cancer living in a sunny place, or get depressed and fat living without the sun.

It arrived....The Little Green Caribou

Christmas Present.

Blast From The Past

This photo was taken 5 years ago to this month in Copenhagen, Denmark. My Parents were living there during that year and I stayed with them for 4 months. Nathan came to visit me for Christmas. Best Christmas present ever! Look he has hair!

What Happens To Cardboard at My House

Who needs any toys when you have a box?

I, My Mother

I never thought this day would come, but it has. Each year I have started liking Christmas more and more, adding new additions to decorations, starting to listen to Christmas music sooner in the year. And this year I even warrior cleaned and reorganized my entire living room before getting the decorations up. I got matching Christmas PJs and matching slippers to match the PJs and then matching PJs for Nathan...
I am... my mother.I haven't quite collected the monstrosity of decorations that my mother has. My decorations went up in less then a day, hers took a week! When I was a kid, my brother and I would dread dragging in the boxes from the garage. We would literally have to set up a bucket brigade to get them in, and it always seemed to take hours and hours. I would dread taking them down and putting them back in the garage even more. It's funny how things change, because I would have loved to be there this year to help put them up with her. Nathan better pray however, that I never come close to owning the museum that my mother does...because I seem to be heading down that path of pandemonium!

Mail Call

Well if it's not Christmas today, I don't know when it should be. Did we ever get a a wack load of boxes in the mail all at once today! I even got my passport, so it especially feels like Christmas because Nathan has been saying that if it didn't come, he would still go on the honey moon (we haven't gone on one yet) in February to Hawaii without me. He said that he would take his dad and that I would have a fabulous time hanging out for the week with his mom, which I am sure I would, but I was worried I was going to miss my own honey moon!

Nathan's Mom sent up a box of Christmas presents and a few other goodies ( I hope we were allowed to dive into these ones they weren't wrapped, and well it's really too late anyways, I have just about inhaled those mini eggs, you really know me too well!)
Along with the goodies above, Nathan's mom sent our Christmas presents wrapped, some for Nathan, and apparently as he puts it too many for me, but also some for the pets. We already have our tree up and Nathan delicately placed each wrapped parcel under the tree, and all I could think about was "Nathan won't the pets unwrap their own gifts?" Nathan just replied with is usual you worry to much. Well sure enough not 10 minutes after we put those gifts under the tree, I hear extreme rustling going on down there. Apparently one of the pet gifts was cat nip. You can see below what he did to his present. What a stinker. So that got removed and put in a drawer somewhere out of his reach, and while I was doing that, more rustling....but his time it was the dog. HAHA Nathan, I called it, our furry mammals can not control themselves.
This wonderful selection came via the south from my wonderful previous boss, Alec. I had helped him with some digital work recently and asked to be payed with cookies. But this was above and beyond...Thank you so much! It really does make my day, week, month getting things in the mail, especially because all the Oreos in my community expired in 2004. You can see that Nathan could hardly contain himself and busted into the Toblerone before I could even take a photo!

Craft Sale

I had a table in today's craft sale and did pretty well. I am continuously learning what people are buying and what they like, it's all market research. And I get to shop in between, all the money I made went right out again to a new pair of mitts and yet more earrings! (Tina you need to come to Nunavut so you can get to one of these sales!)

Here is what I bought and Nathan can't complain because the money was all funded by my photography skills.

The most comfortable pair of mitts. I like the way they sew them up here because they take into account the natural curve of your fingers.

Ulu earrings, hand made....oh how beautiful. Made by the same artist that did my fish earrings. (*note to photographers, shooting jewelry on top of your MacBook is pretty stylish because it's such a reflective surface)
Here are a few examples of the cards I sold today. The first one of town that sold out and the second I did of a northern style Christmas card with Kamiks hanging on the tree.

painPOD

So I have finally sold my 18th century DOS ipod (ok it wasn't that old, in fact if was a photo ipod, but it's size and clunkiness made it feel really out of date). Now I am hoping I am going to get one of those cute little ipod nanos, according to Nathan I have hinted pretty hard about getting it for Christmas, so I am pretty confident I will get one. Now some might say hey, your down sizing, but really I don't need 10 thousand songs on my ipod at one time. Especially because I hate things pretty fast, if I don't like a song, I don't want it and the rest of a CD stuck on my ipod just as filler.

The most irritating part of this whole thing is trying to retrieve all my music off of my ipod just so I can put it on a different ipod. HELLO APPLE I LOVE YOU, BUT WHY MUST YOU SUCK at file sharing? All I want to do is move songs from my old ipod on to my NEW ipod, I am not trying to start an illegal CD coping ring! And I would prefer to do this within the law. But no you force me to a) buy all new songs or b) download pirate software to remove the songs from my painPOD. I will give you 3 guess what I did. I am usually the first person to stand up for everything apple, but this is where they are going too far. Can't they develop a system just to move your songs from your old ipod to a new one? Like a package that comes with the new pod? My old ipod is at least 4 years old, we are talking songs that I no longer have on my lap top or CDs I have sold. Having the files already on my computer also saves me the hassle of ripping all my CDs again as well.

The new year should be about cleaning house, so I have started with the ipod, cleansing it of crap songs. As I move songs from the old ipod into itunes, I am deleting junk. Unfortunately the way apple hides the music files and the way I have to get them on my computer is time consuming. I have to open each and every single one of the 3000 songs to see what they are. When you see them in the files you retrieve they are coded with 4 letters, so you have no idea what song you are opening. In a way it's kind of fun, like you are opening a kinder surprise, anticipating each song. I have noticed a few things about my tastes in playing every song, I have way too much Smashing Pumpkins, Radio Head and Danny Elfman and questions like what possessed me to like Collective Soul or Dave Mathews Band? Painstakingly I have worked through each song, stopping occasionally to listen to a song I haven't heard or forgotten about that had been hiding in the cob webs of the pod.

I was reunited with my Danish boy band Nik og Jay and their song En Dag Tilbage, Jeferson Airplane's White Rabbit, and few other obscurities.

But ultimately I searched the deepest crevasses of my old ipod for one nameless Nine Inch Nails song. A song that I got from a friends mixed CD a hundred years ago. I know it only as track 01. And don't think I haven't tried for years to figure out it's name or what CD it came from. I own most NIN CDs, so my only thoughts are that it must have been a collaboration with another artist on their CD. All I know is that it's only instrumental and it's beautiful. I am happy that it won't be lost forever.

The best part of this whole ordeal is the guy that bought the old ipod is getting it with the pink skin and all! Shhh no one tell him Tallinn pooped on it when he was a baby (it's clean and it works fine)! :)

MaKiNg ChRiStMaS, MaKiNg ChRiStMaS TiMe

For all of you who know Nightmare Before Christmas;

Won't they be impressed, I am a genius, see how I transform the old rat into a most delightful hat

Hmm, my compliments from me to you on this your most intriguing hat. Consider though this substitute a bat in place of this old rat. Huh! No, no, no, now that's all wrong this thing will never make a present it's been dead for much too long, try something fresher, something pleasant
try again, don't give up

It's almost Christmas, and my middle name is usually procrastination. Living in Nunavut however has slapped that quality right out of me. You need to plan, plan, plan in the land of mail and delay. Last night I was up until 4am buying stocking stuffers on Londondrugs.com, I am not going to get into details because Nathan does read this, so shhhh! I have also found a new and FANTASTIC website that I was previously unaware of, American Eagle! This place is unfortunately more Christmas for me then Nathan, but I have still been looking anyway, they have free shipping for over $100 spent.

Nunavut Christmas tips:

Candy Canes ALWAYS break in the mail, just buy them at the store, even if they cost more.

Darkness sucks, decorate your house with 10 thousand Christmas lights, have them on all day.

Is your house dry? Boil water on your stove with cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom. You not only put moisture back into the air, but you infuse the air with Christmas smell.

Sunday Morning

The sun is just about the best studio light a girl could ask for, it makes any subject look good, and best of all it's free! I am glad the clouds parted and it made a last appearance before it leaves us for good in December. I know I shouldn't complain because other communities are in pure darkness now, but it's been cloudy here for the past month and that's just as depressing as having no sun at all.

What I didn't know about Syllabics

The Inuktitut syllabary is a writting system, used by Inuit people in Nunavut and in Nunavik, Quebec. In 1976, the Language Commission of the Inuit Cultural Institute made it the co-official script for the Inuktitut language, along with the Latin Alphabet.


O.K. so what I didn't know was that Syllabics weren't evolved by the Inuit people, "they are a variety of shorthand once taught to secretaries, which was used by missionaries to teach writing to Cree, and then to Inuit." (Nunatsiaq News)

Short hand? What kind of short hand are we talking about here? This ain't like no short hand I ever seen! Who knew people who can write syllabics were actually super secretaries? I wonder if this short form is still being used in some office somewhere. It's way to complicated for me, I am going to just stick to my spoken one word sentences.

Taima (that's it folks)

Smoooosh Face

OMG do I really look like this every time I take a photo? That would make about 10 million times I have made this face then, I hope I don't get wrinkles from it! That isn't the most plesant profile, but I guess that's why I work behind the camera. One very skilled talent I have learned living north of 60 is how to take a damn good photo with mittens on. Those fingerless gloves don't cut it up here. Check out my HOT down filled purple hand savers. The only thing I can manage is to take the lens cap off with these babies.(Photo courtesy of the other Jen, what is sister for, but for taking funny looking pictures of her sister!)

Sick in Nunavut

(Sung to the song "It's oh so Quiet" by Bjork)

It's oh so Dry
It's oh so Hot
You're all crusty
And you wonder what you've caught

You Blow your Nose
Zap sting
Wipe away what Flows
Zap Sting
You have a cold
Zing Owe
You don't want to move too much, you wanna die
There's no moisture in the air, you can't even cry
There is no place for cough syrup to buy

Your sick in Nunavut
Your stuck inside
The snow sits over a foot
A mountain of Kleenex by your side

Your nose is red
Zap Sting
Your stuck in bed
Zap Sting
Can't seem to drain
Zing Owe
Your stuffed up head

It's oh so Dry
It's oh so Hot
You're all crusty
And you wonder what you've caught

They Who Make A Cloudy Day Sunny

I Can Have Undies?

Hi Ethan

Here is a picture of my youngest blog reader! Hi Ethan, Mommy, Daddy, Nay Nay and Jen all miss you!

The 30 Second Freeze

We only had to hold our breath for 30 seconds as this shot was taken and control laughter through all burping and muscle pain. But this is definately the coolest shot of the northern lights I have gotten yet. Rock out!

A couple of Jens

My sister in-law Jen and I always joke that Nathan married me because he would have one less name to remember. Wherever we go it's like a force of Jens, a force on shopping, on eating good food, but most of all a force for having a good time. We have been having a relaxing time (indoors, because the weather is crap right now) laying around the house and eating good (um I really mean junk) food, but we have also been getting out. Jen came with me to help out at an elders gathering the high school had set up and we had a great time doing it. Although we always have a great time doing whatever really. We have also been to 3 Remembrance Day ceremonies with Nathan and took many photos. As a huge surprise Jen brought her husband Jordan along. We had no idea he was coming until we got to the airport and Jen said "look who I brought!". Nathan has been having a blast taking Jordan out shooting (with the real gun) and then continuing with shooting on the x-box. Boys!

Remembrance

DOGCAT

Ok folks, the first recorded picture of Tallinn and Norman together, taken tonight. Their fights are becoming less frequent and Norman is less aggravated when Tallinn sniffs him out, but it even shocked me when I caught Tallinn giving Norman a small "bath" the other day. Or maybe Tallinn was tasting him. Either way Norman was partially enjoying having his back slobbered up, getting to those places he just can't reach by himself.

Also if you want to hear something like the sounds Norman makes when he sees a bird check this out!

This Week in Pets

Tallinn's Auntie Jen brought him the most wonderful presents. A bunch of rawhide and also a stuffed basket ball and football. The first night was too much to handle and he had his mommy up at 3am, not because he had to go outside, but because he NEEDED to have his stuffed football. The next day he tried to steal a chocolate cherry, one with a toothpick! His mommy had to chase him down and retrieve the toothpick half way down his throat. It's been a fun week for this puppy.

Norman has been spending a lot of time sitting in the windowsills. The winds here have made the birds (I mean giant children eating raven monsters) glide by the windows at a much slower speed and this has caught the eye of a certain neurotic kitty. Maybe the monster ravens thought Norman was a cheesy sitting in a drive through window. I wish you could all hear the way Norman chirps...yes CHIRPS, when he sees a bird.

BaNAN

You can still get all your fresh fruits and vegetables in the North, whether or not you eat them is up to you.

A Grey Day

The sky is dark and gloomy today, a member of the RCMP lost his life yesterday in the line of Duty here in Nunavut, in a community not far from ours.
Story Here
A few members here had the chance to know him in life. My greatest sympathies go out to his family, friends and fellow members.

I will remember you often

You will not be forgotten
Because you lost your life
Fighting for all things right
A voice telling me to cherish
God forbid my husband perish
A job to serve and protect
For this you have my respect
I will remember you often
You will not be forgotten

How far the rabbit hole goes...

Linking from one blog to another is like falling down the rabbit hole. Seriously how did people live before blogs? How did you get advice for a specific issue? I have received more first hand knowledge and advice from reading blogs (that is relevant to my life) then any other kind of search tool out there. Eat your heart out Wikipedia!
The other night I was on Adventures of Matt & Kara's Blog and some how linked off their site to another blog about almost to be parents. They had another link that was pretty interesting. Next thing I know I am on some website that is a calculator to determine how much money you might spend on baby during his/her first year. That really got me thinking as hopefully in the near future Nathan and I can start our own family. It got me thinking and also closing the shopping cart window on the Victoria's Secrets website(that took a lot of will power). Huh maybe we should be saving money right now? Nathan's wallet is so lucky blogging is free! :)

Free Arctic Fun Tip: Dress up in your snow suit like "Thomas"(make sure to pee before), go outside after dark and lay in the snow(snow makes things sparkley and quiet). It's a) better to do this on a clear night, b) in a place away from snow machine noise pollution, and c)stay closer to home (just in case a bear wants to make you into a humanpop)! Now behold the Universe!

The Art of Being Cozy

Oh boy GEEZ it's getting cold out there. Tonight I stepped into our front porch to kiss Nathan goodbye as he went to work, and all of a sudden the cold greedily grabbed onto my stocking feet. Thoughts of slippers, scarves and mittens danced through my head. It's time to break out the warm stuff. And this year I think I am going to get myself some snow pants or another pair of fleece lined jeans, so I don't always have to slap the life back into my pin prickly legs as they defrost from being outside.
The art of being cozy is taken seriously up here. Getting warm and cozy after being blasted with cold is one of those things you need to treat yourself to. Always having a blanket hanging around the couch is key, even if it doesn't jive with the living room decor. Slippers are a must, but ones with rubber soles are best so you don't build up that ominous static electricity. A hot cup of coffee, hot chocolate or tea will top off that cozy moment. Aleks prefers to boil Chi spices in milk on the stove to make the whole house smell like, as he says "Christmas".
And then the phone rings, you have been called into work, must go outside and your cozy bubble has been POPPED!

"MUSHING" On Into November

*Tallinn is hooked to a harness that is strapped to his body, not to the collar around his neck.*

Aleks left us today! We had lots of fun! It was too short, thanks for coming! One more week until Nathan's sister comes up....who is also named Jen, just so no one starts thinking I am talking about myself in third person. I can't wait to see you Jen, from Jen!

All Hallows Eve

When there's something strange in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call? Tonight was fantastic, the evening started with handing out candy to trick or treaters, then eating candy for the trick or treaters, and followed by some spooky glamor shots. Then we ate more candy, then sugar cubes because the candy just wasn't enough. After a tummy ache, we danced under the moon and whistled at the northern lights. We topped off the night by watching Halloween Simpons and Beetlejuice. Only another year left until next Halloween!